It took me forever to learn how to love—to love wide open with the throat singing ariaswith the arms waving like bannerswith the heart bleeding fleshwith the entrails leakingwith that profound wound of womanhoodthat waits for you like a bruised ripening hungerthat trembles for you like an unhinged moonthat weeps for you as you enter me without a sound How to love openly is an … Continue reading The Travel Channel by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
Why do you do it Mister Moon? Why do you shine us on so? Why lie and deceive hide and deflect? One moment you’re here the next… I suspect it’s to confuse us to use us as a mirror for your unconscious So indirect your reflections deceptions your subtle inflections Our dream half-lit just a slice of it— the stuffing dreams are made of You’re cold you’re cool Your push is your pull How we howl how … Continue reading Full Of It! by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
When I die I want to be stuffed stuffed and mounted on the wall like some poor old deer who got caught in the headlights Not just the antlers mind you but the whole fucking catastrophe― glass eyes mop of hair scars stretching beyond Wyoming Gutted by the skin of my teeth like dead animals and birds I want to be filled with that special fake something―that makes me look like I’m alive―the stuff that dreams are … Continue reading Taxidermy by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
It begins with an itch then another and another– those screaming red eruptions on arms legs and unmentionables (Isn’t life a bitch!) the tell-tale sign of corruption– bloodstains on your pillow the viscous film of wet dream on your shrinking fitted sheets Who are they? these creeps these mites small flat parasites big appetites that live in dark places alleyways hidden spaces who feed off you in excess before they retire to the comfort of your bed where they enjoy easy access Yum while you lay … Continue reading When You Are On the Menu by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
They hand you a handout…a look a number…a label a social identity that passes for you They call you they and them— Black people poor people gay people other people They add on ‘’people’’ to distinguish you from White Western male majority They can’ t help being like that They were born that way Do unto others before they do unto you Go ahead make duplicates only I’ll keep the original I anonymously yours am at a loss Coiled in my shell—a cheap hotel or is it … Continue reading What’s Left? by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
I present to you an ordinary mirror– a poem in which I will attempt to recreate a memory before your very eyes–a dangerous disguiseI must warn you nowdon’t try this at home I am after all only a reflection of youThe black dye leaking from my brain is not real merely the faint imaging of a cheap out-of-date copy machinewet with promiseThe blood leaking from … Continue reading The Illusionist by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
He kicked the catout the windowCarved her goldfishup like sushiDinner wasn’t ready on time He wanted it nowAnd I do mean NOW ! Ordered her uppink as rare beef—one tender homemakersimmered in silenceSwallowed her wholeone day at a time The day he beat herbeyond definitionshe navigated commandsin her state-of-the-art kitchenin her gingham apronher cellophane smile She had binge-cleaned and purgedthe entire apartment–worshipping at the altarin bulimic … Continue reading Domestic Goddess by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
They’re everywhere– here therein restaurants in schools in mosques your closet your bed your last paragraph– those curious question marks! Spies with eyes in the back of their headare tracking you like the CIAlike a jealous lover like a digitalized numberon an overnight package Big Brother surveillance cameras the eyes of your computer the eyes of strangers Facebook Twitter Instagramstalking you like a wet dream At the doctor’s office even the stethoscope knows your real name and … Continue reading Sp-eyes by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
We buried him in deep November brown hat brown suit brown shoes Color of sorrow of sepia of sienna of a thousand burnt photographs fading into their horizon Color of the linoleum I scrubbed with a toothbrush the day I was forced to dig my own grave for the crimes I committed like living A hole much smaller than the one in my heart We buried … Continue reading Of Papa Who Sang In the Opera by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
Medusa–from Greek; protectress; guardian The owl and the pussycat went out to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat –Edward Lear 1. How I drowned in my mother’s tears alone and unrocked is the part of the story I leave out– how we shivered and swayed in the shadow of the storm how hurricanes had nothing on my father ! Shiver and sway shiver and sway … Continue reading Glass Nobodies by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
